Mr. Floret Cadet and I have discovered lots of great baby products since having Daniela (more blog posts on some of those to follow) – but some products that aren’t intended for babies have also turned out to be lifesavers for us. Here are a few of them!

#1 – Homedics Soundspa Alarm Clock with Projector – This is a cheesy alarm clock that I bought at Bed, Bath and Beyond years ago on a whim and it hadn’t seen the light of day in our house, until Daniela was born. What makes it so great now is first the variety of white noise settings- from ocean to rain to crickets. She’s sleeping in our room, and these sounds are far more pleasing to me than the Sleep Sheep or other white noise makers geared specifically towards babies (*what* is up with that terrifying, evil sounding “heartbeat” setting on the Sleep Sheep?!) They can also stay on all night vs being on a timer. I also love the projector feature. New parents wake up every time the baby grunts or stirs, and it’s so nice not to have to roll over or strain to see what time it is. I can open my eyes for just a second any time, and the time is projected onto the ceiling- I stay almost fully asleep and still have some grasp over what time it is and how long until the next feeding. Also, the projection casts just enough light into the room that I can feed her without turning on any additional light. It’s not a distraction for sleeping and is a pleasant blue color.

#2 – Boppy Pregnancy Wedge- This is a pregnancy product, intended to prop up pregnant bellies while side sleeping at night, but I’ve used it more since having her than I did when I was pregnant I think! I use it to prop up my elbow when I breastfeed her in the cradle position, and since I have overactive letdown issues with feeding, I also use it to prop her up and angle her body on top of the My Breast Friend pillow, so she can better control the flow. It’s also the perfect size, shape and firmness to use under her for Tummy Time, and makes a cute photo prop when she’s holding her head up off of it.

#3– I have always loved these little liquid dispenser bottles at Sephora, and was excited to find them online. I ordered one for each diaper station. When you first come home from the hospital, you are supposed to just use gauze wipes with water for the first few weeks. We are also cloth diapering and using cloth wipes, so I am continuing to use these indefinitely to wet my wipes, either with solution or just water. But even just for the first few weeks, I would much prefer to use one of these to dispense water than to keep an open dish of water that could get kicked over at the changing station.

#4 – Clip on reading light – We have one of these clipped onto our bedroom changing station, so that whoever changes her doesn’t have to turn on a full bedside lamp and wake her or the other adult up during midnight changings. It’s working out well- the light stays very localized.

#5 – This is the furthest removed from a baby product, but it’s still saving my life. Why? It’s a soft indoor version of the famous Chuck It dog toys, and I can use it to entertain our extremely high spirited dog while nursing or holding the baby – the handle is long enough for me to reach the toy on the ground and not have to bend over to pick it up, and I never touch the toy, so I don’t have to constantly sanitize my hands in between dog time and baby time.

Oh and also – it’s not a product but a service, so not listed here, but Amazon Prime has been the biggest life saver of all! In the first 2 weeks of her life I think we placed at least one and usually two orders per day. It was so nice to get things so quickly, not have to rack our brains for $25 worth of stuff to order so we could get free shipping, and to not have to try to get one of us out to the (germ infested) baby store during those early weeks!